If the
Apo Hiking Society member Jim Paredes sees himself as the voice humming in the universe, his wife, Lydia probably sees herself
as the eye witnessing its beauty. "Basically I am an artist, Jim is into singing and hosting. I do the visual arts," says
the 47-year-old Lydia. A Fine Arts graduate of UP Diliman, Lydia has tried every visual art medium except oil painting and
has been into pottery for 13 years. She shows me the whimsical ceramic pieces she has fashioned into human heads the size
of fists that she has clustered in a basket in her sala.

When I arrive
for our interview, Lydia is in her rocking chair, cradling her granddaughter, three-month-old Ananda, and rocking her to sleep.
Later, she tells me how the birth of Ananda has become the unexpected inspiration in her fight against breast cancer
which cast a dark shadow on her life last year.

(Read the full story in the maiden issue
of The Big C Magazine this November.)

A Second Look at Breast Cancer

By Resty Maghirang

The Philippines leads all other countries in Asia in the incidence of breast cancer, declares Dr. Priscilla B.
Caguioa, leading hematologist and medical oncologist.Although we don’t
have as high an incidence as America, Caguioa credits the twin risk factors, nurture and nature, for putting us on top in
Asia.

Nurture, or the environment, plays a major role in causing breast cancer, with our diet being the most westernized
among Asians.Japan and Korea, on the other hand, have the lowest incidence of
breast cancer in this part of the world.When transported to a foreign location,
however, Japanese women become more prone to the disease, with the change in diet changing the odds.

(Read the full story in the maiden issue
of The Big C Magazine this November.).